Holyrood falcon killer hit with fine

A PENSIONER who killed the Scottish Parliament’s “guard” falcon has been ordered to pay for training its replacement.

Pigeon fancier Andrew Hutchison was found guilty before Christmas of shooting the bird with an air rifle.

But yesterday, when he appeared for sentence at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Hutchison, a 67-year-old retired miner with chronic lung disease, claimed he had hurled a hammer at the bird as it attacked one of his racing doves. He then stuffed the feathered corpse into a bin bag and drove away with it.

Its transmitter, and one severed leg, was found dumped four miles away.

The rest of the falcon, a peregrine/gyrfalcon cross called Naph, has never been found.

Two-year-old Naph was one of 25 birds of prey used to prevent feral pigeons fouling the Holyrood building.